Saturday, June 24, 2006

Trail Maintenace

i did trail maintenance last saturday. i like "giving back" to the park i ride mostly in, but this time, it gave me back more.

i wish i could return it...

and get a refund...

or exchange it for something else.

but i think i got poison ivy again!

THANKS!

next time, it's jeans and long sleeves and gloves and i'm sure it will be sweltering out.

dirty "scratchin'' bert

Friday, June 23, 2006

Rain Rain Everywhere

i wanna ride.

i'm going to try tomorrow.

they said it's suppose to rain till wednesday. friday didn't look so bad, i think could have squeeze a ride in for an hour, instead i went to the dreaded gym. dreaded because i haven't been there in a 2 weeks and for me it's hard to get back into that routine.

at the gym, i was watching some trainer, show some chunky guy, the proper way to lift weights. what I really wished he was taught, was to not to wear black dress socks pulled up to his knees while wearing bright white sneakers or the white headband around his pale forehead or not to wear lycria to the gym. UGH!!! my rambling about the gym attire maybe another blog for me.

back to biking. fenders are great in this crappy weather. SKS or Headland, makes great fenders and realatively cheap. But for more style and color, nothing can beat T.H.E fenders and sometimes you can find them under 12 bucks. see blue sky cycling they have a nice selection of both. i made fun of betty & her fenders, the last time we went out. teased her about the stream crossing an how good it was to have them on. i have fenders, i use to carry it with me all the time, look arounf in the parking lot to see, if peoples bikes were muddy. i think my front fender is broke and my rear fender is somewhere in the garage.

they sell tires especially for the mud. wider spacing, less caking of the mud. speaking of caking, i have heard, about spray the downtube with cooking spray, so the mud doesn't stick to the bike. i really hate changing that rear tire. i could do it in a snap before i got my disc brakes but now, there's so much to look for, "is everything aligned?". i seem to need 3 hands to get that rear wheel back on! im so mechanically challenge. thats 1 thing is wish to change this year other than building my endurance up.

happy muddy trails!
Db

Friday, June 02, 2006

A Quickie

So the crew & I got a quick ride in yesterday. Betty & I waited for Warren & Java to show but they were stuck in traffic. So Betty & I rode a lil loop. A nice lil warmup and a introduction of what is expected of Chimney Rock. It was a quick run and back to the parking lot and waited. Still no Warren. So we went back for another quick loop, a lil larger this time and I'm riding thru and up, what I didn't do, just 10 minutes ago. Just as we were finishing up, we get a call that Warren is at the parking lot.

Alright, we are all together now, finally, lets begin. I figured it's going to be a rough, bumpy ride for java since he's riding a suspenless huffy (kick stand and all and wearing jeans) but no, this rides up and over and smashes over things. It goes to show you, it doesn't matter, how much you spent on your bike, what kind of components yer sportin' or what kinda of clothes yer wearing, it's all about YOU! Anyway, we climb and get to the top. I hear thunder. Not so loud but loud enough to make you wonder, how soon is it coming. I figure, lets do a loop, somewhat challenging and by the time we are done the rain should start. Well we continue on, the thunder gets louder and the trail gets more rockier. I somewhat happen to fall and I'm so thankful that for that football size rock, help cushion my hip when it kissed it. DAMN, that hurt. THAT has to leave a mark. At that point we needed to turn around and head back where we came from because the thunder was getting louder and louder and more frequent. Well we made it to the parking lot, loaded the bikes and nothing. Yea there was lots of thunder but no rain, until we left the park.

Well what normally takes me an hour and 15 minutes to drive home took me 2 and half hours to drive thru the most torrential rains and wind and scarriest lightening that I ever witnessed nor drove thru. It was so windy, that my wiper blades stopped in mid wipe from the wind. AND what's even more fun, is stopping to get gas when it's lightening all around you. I reached out the window to check if my bike was still on the roof.

Oh well, it was still kinda fun, despite the long drive. Next time, I think Betty and I wont be waiting and hopefully I'm not late myself.

dirty bert